Interpretive Labor
Experimental Music at Work
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Product details:
- Publisher OUP USA
- Date of Publication 20 May 2025
- ISBN 9780197698785
- Binding Paperback
- No. of pages272 pages
- Size 234x156x16 mm
- Weight 399 g
- Language English 605
Categories
Short description:
Interpretive Labor: Experimental Music at Work introduces and develops author Kirsten Carithers's theory of Interpretive Labor, based on examples from the postwar Euro-American avant-garde and other forms of experimentalism. The book also explores connections between music and labor in the neoliberal present to help us understand creative work more broadly.
MoreLong description:
Why did so many musicians in the postwar era engage with experimental practices, and why do artists continue to do so today? What happens when we acknowledge the work that goes into performing this repertoire? What kind of work is it to be a contemporary musician, anyway?
To address these questions, Interpretive Labor: Experimental Music at Work presents the theory of Interpretive Labor, or the creative work of interpretation. This book introduces and develops Interpretive Labor as grounded in a vast network of participants in new music between c. 1960 and the present, establishes several models of musical work, and explores the myriad connections between music and labor in the neoliberal present.
Experimentalism's practitioners may rely on different codes and norms than most classical or popular musicians, but the underlying work that individuals do to create, understand, prepare, and produce their music is quite ordinary. At the same time, because these musicians did not initially have access to a normative performance practice, the work involved is often especially pronounced, and sometimes takes unusual forms. The story of Interpretive Labor thus demonstrates the value of a marriage between labor studies and music studies and provides a novel conceptual framework for the economy of musical activities. Its various forms can be instructive to anyone whose work involves some degree of creativity, from computer programmers to social-media influencers, interior designers to event planners--and, of course, musicians.
The book provides satisfying narrative detail to support the central premise, and the composer types seem spot on. For filling in some historical gaps and for making a case for performers, the book is recommended to libraries with music collections.
Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION: EXPLORING INTERPRETATION, ENGAGING WITH LABOR
THE VALUE OF INTERPRETIVE LABOR
THE EXECUTIVE MODEL: COMPOSERS AS BOSSES
THE SCIENTIST MODEL: THE COMPOSITION STUDIO AS LABORATORY
THE ADMINISTRATOR MODEL: WOMENS WORK AND NEW-MUSIC COORDINATORS
THE HACKER MODEL: SUBVERSION IN THEORY AND PRACTICE
THE GAMER MODEL: GAMES, PLAY, AND OTHER LUDIC EXPERIMENTS
CONCLUSION: INTERPRETIVE LABOR BEYOND EXPERIMENTALISM
